The young crowd of today’s computer environment makes anyone feel that they can do whatever they want, without any consequences or strings to our actions. ‘Taking’ music from other peoples computers is illegal and can mostly come from mundane activities but it should be clear to everyone that just because other people do something does not mean it is right. Peer Pressure is one of the most debated topics in the world as of children and teenagers involvement in schools, sex, religions, etc. The world famous quote “If all my friends are doing it, why can’t I?” sometimes comes with a simple answer, but there are those answers that can be tricky, and everything can make a difference when we are talking about maturation and the “growing up” process.
It is important for our kids to know what is right (not what is legal, there are many things that although legal, not for a teenager to do) and most importantly for them to acknowledge why certain things are not allowed in our communities. I was at a concert last weekend and I saw five girls that were no older than 13 smoking marijuana altogether as if it was no big deal. The problem is not that their smoking marijuana, the problem lays that they have no idea why they are doing it, and their parents (for a number of reasons – Unknown) have not explained them why this is wrong, and how to avoid it, or what to say to somebody when this happens.
I wanted to approach the issue of awareness before I got into our main concern, which is that the college kids who are stealing music and movies from this companies are mostly aware that it is a felony and that it’s not ethical, they still somehow do these things, why? Because most Americans are meant to believe that we have a right for everything: right to vote, free speech, free will, and many others that we all well aware about. So naturally, all college students believe they have a right to “music” which they do, but what they do not have a right to is to steal it.
The personal approach that should be used to make this students aware of their wrong doing is the Full Potential Approach which basically goes as follows: People are responsible for realizing their full potential within the confines of morality. Choices that can achieve this goal without infringing on the rights of others are considered ethical. Based upon this definition we may conclude that they are stealing from the Artists or the Film Company without no logical explanation but self-gratification. The most professional way of dealing with these problems in a college campus environment is to encourage students not to download illegal material, invite companies that offer legal services into campus to relate with students, make music and films available for those who are consumers of this material in the university. Most part of this issue is still of individual concern and every person can do what they feel as right or even what they want, for some its worth the risk and for some its not. Some large institutions take part into this to not get attacked by the media or the corporations, and some choose to ignore the issues.
The unauthorized file sharing will be a large issue for many years and will always be present in some way, there are many ways of dealing with it previously mentioned on this report and it can lead to many major problems like lawsuits, scandals, unwanted media attention and more. But the main reason why this happens is because the students choose to go on the wrong path for lack of knowledge of a better or alternative path, and this is where awareness becomes the most important part of the issue.
